Category Archives: Jess N. McLean

Poore Boys In Gray

Posted on January 28, 2012 by

Ralph Poore, a onetime Utah newspaperman, is the latest descendent of a 13th Regiment soldier to write a book about his ancestor—two of them, actually, his great uncles the privates Francis Marion Poore and John F. Poore of the Newton … Continue reading →

Posted in Jess N. McLean, Mississippi, Newton Rifles | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Payday and a prisoner’s deception

Posted on November 2, 2011 by

Pay had been sporadic for some time when, on Thursday, August 13, 1863, the 13th Regiment, along with the rest of the brigade, finally received its wages. “We were paid off yesterday to include the 30th of June,” Lieutenant Robert … Continue reading →

Posted in Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade, H. Grady Howell Jr., Jess N. McLean, The Spartan Band, William H. Hill Diary | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Overrun

Posted on July 23, 2011 by

Sunday, May 3, it dawned clear and warm, and the Second Battle of Fredericksburg began. “The battle commenced at daylight,” Gen. Barksdale later reported. “A furious cannonading was opened from the enemy’s batteries in town, and along both banks of … Continue reading →

Posted in Battles: Fredericksburg, Gen. William Barksdale, Jess N. McLean, William H. Hill Diary | Tagged , | Leave a comment

To shift for himself with one arm

Posted on June 29, 2011 by

Pettus Guards Private John McDonald wrote home on April 4, 1863, according to Jess N. McLean’s Official Records. “….well Susan, since I began this letter, one of our company has been discharged. David Malone is the man. “He lost his … Continue reading →

Posted in Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade, Correspondence, Fredericksburg, Jess N. McLean, The Pettus Guards, The Spartan Band, William H. Hill Diary | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Four lieutenants demoted

Posted on June 9, 2011 by

Spartan Band diarist William H. Hill said it was snowing at dress parade on the morning of March 12, 1863, when an order from Gen. Lee was read to the regiment. The order said that four 13th lieutenants whom a … Continue reading →

Posted in Fredericksburg, H. Grady Howell Jr., Jess N. McLean, Newton Rifles, The Alamutcha Infantry, The Spartan Band, William H. Hill Diary | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Cold

Posted on May 20, 2011 by

The skies were clear in Fredericksburg in the early days of 1863 and the temperature was dropping. The weather would prove variable, from a few mild days followed by others of intense cold. On January 4, Private Wilborn P. Smith … Continue reading →

Posted in Correspondence, Fredericksburg, Jess N. McLean, The Pettus Guards | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Reprise: Clara Barton & the 13th

Posted on May 14, 2011 by

Painting by famed Civil War artist Mort Kunstler of Red Cross-founder Clara Barton on December 15, 1862, at Chatham Plantation near Fredericksburg, VA,  serving a Confederate POW—identified as Captain Thurman Thomas of the 13th Mississippi Infantry Regiment. Or was he? … Continue reading →

Posted in Battles: Fredericksburg, H. Grady Howell Jr., Jess N. McLean, Newton Rifles | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A slave takes his master home

Posted on May 12, 2011 by

The bodies of two men of the 13th Mississippi Regiment, left in the town when the brigade withdrew on the evening of Dec. 11, were discovered after Christmas in the rubble of some shelled and destroyed Fredericksburg homes. One was … Continue reading →

Posted in Albert Wymer Henley Diary, Fredericksburg, Jess N. McLean, Mississippi, Slavery, The Spartan Band, The Winston Guards, William H. Hill Diary | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Burnside is Lee’s Quartermaster

Posted on May 8, 2011 by

Private William Little Davis, of the Winston Guards,  wrote a long letter home to Louisville, MS, according to independent historian Jess N. McLean. On Friday, Dec. 19, 1862, Davis was still finishing it, on picket duty in Fredericksburg, “in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade, Battles: Fredericksburg, Fredericksburg, Jess N. McLean, The Commanders, The Winston Guards | Tagged , | Leave a comment

In line of battle

Posted on April 26, 2011 by

The Mississippi Brigade’s Dec. 11, 1862, stand in the town against the advancing Union army was only a sideshow to the approaching big show. The 13th Regiment withdrew with the rest of the brigade that night to the Telegraph Road … Continue reading →

Posted in Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade, Battles: Fredericksburg, Jess N. McLean, Mike M. Hubbert Diary, The Minute Men of Attala, The Spartan Band, The Winston Guards, William H. Hill Diary | Tagged , | Leave a comment